Geneva, 19^th October 2022. Víctor Genina, Director for Development and Policy of SIMN, at the 4^th Annual Meeting of the United Nations Migration Network (UNMN), signaled that the expansion of regular migratory pathways is urgent to avoid the deaths of migrants:

“The number of migrants who have died in the months after the adoption of the Progress Declaration of the IMRF reaches the hundreds, some drowned at sea, some out of asphyxia in packed trailer trucks, others victims of criminal networks in complicity with state authorities, some even enslaved and sold as commodities. And these deaths are mainly due to the implementation of restrictive migration policies by both destination and transit countries, justified with the moto ´safe and regular migration´.”

He continued by emphasizing the need for a firm commitment from all countries to really improve migratory policies “to save the lives of those who risk their lives for a better future through the expansion of regular pathways to migration, which, we call to make it the main priority of the UNMN.” Also, he called for more and substantive participation of migrants themselves and civil society organizations in this process. Finally, he called States and the UNMN to invest as much political capital as they have in order to achieve these goals so credibility in international diplomacy can be regained.